making for frustrating commutes for drivers this morning. >> hi there big guy. but a creative way protect customers before they get behind the wheel on the fourth of july. does it work? >> live and in hd, this is "good morning washington," on your side. >> i don't know how much more i want to hear about that story but we will have that coming up. good morning, washington. it's tuesday, july 3. i am steve chenevey. >> i am cynne simpson. let's check in with lisa baden and meteorologist adam caskey to find out what the forecast looks light. >> i cannot get that voice out of my head from the urinal. let's look at live super doppler 7. we have a few showers right now with no lightning or thunder.

downpours and senior is county south of 235 approaching tall timbers -- downpours in st. mary's county. 77 degrees for the high temperature in arlington -- for the current temperature in arlington, on our way to the '90s for the afternoon. now to lisa baden. >> she is checking on the hov restrictions. we will have that in a few minutes. we are getting word the restrictions are lifted once again today. she is working the phones. we will get the updates in a few minutes. let's talk more about the recovery efforts which continue after friday's deadly storms across the east coast. >> severe weather been going on at least 22 deaths. 1.8 customers without power. hundreds of thousands are in the d.c. region. pepco reports just over 117,000

outages. dominion has 80,000 customers without power. b g e is working to restore electricity to more than 50,000 this morning. we will talk with officials from dominion and pepco about the restoration efforts coming up. in the meantime, the hot weather is complicating things for those trying to deal with life without power. >> that's one of the worst parts. residents are being urged to take advantage of cooling centers, but many want to know when their lights will be back on. the team coverage continues with jummy olabanji in northwest washington this morning. >> good morning. we're at 16th street and juniper in northwest washington. you can see industry is completely dark behind me. this is the story across downtown and in the district. many people are wondering when the power will come back on. the past couple days have been anything but haveeaven.

>> its burning up. especially upstairs. >> we are living with the devil. >> thousands of pepco customers in our region are still without power. the company says it could be several days before it is restored. this man does not believe it. >> knowing pepco, it will probably be another week. >> pepco says their crews have been working around the clock since friday to restore power to thousands across d.c. and maryland and have called for extra help from as far as a wayaway as texas. and texas 92-year-old morris clark says that his health and his patience is weakening. >> it's getting worse every day i and i'm getting weaker each day. the service gets worse every year. >> d.c. mayor vincent gray

says -- >> the irony is pepco has a request for a rate increase. >> residents in the district tell us in the past several months pepco has been cutting down and cutting back trees to try to stop this from happening. those same residents say they are very frustrated because even though some of the trees have been cut, the power is still not on. reporting live in northwest, jummy olabanji. >> outages creating a domino effect as many traffic lights are still out of. that makes the commutes' even longer and more frustrating for drivers. john gonzalez is in bethesda with more on that part of the story. >> it is truly remarkable how dark it is in bethesda maryland. this is old georgetown. rd. and democracy georgetown you know how busy this intersection usually is. it is dark for miles in each direction. more than 250 dark corners in

montgomery county. >> i don't think anyone is accustomed to seeing this unless there has been a tornado. >> hundreds of tracks and signals out and some at major intersections, still in the dark -- hundreds of traffic signals. thousands of pounds of broken trees and utility poles and lines dangling. >> especially that piece of telephone pole hanging over great falls road. >> crews have been working tirelessly to cut and repair. >> it seems like things are getting done. >> things are starting to get back to normal slowly, but not quick enough for some. >> every intersection i am stopping and cops are waving us through. it is tough. while com>> once you get off the major roads, the situation does not improve.

the neighborhoods are a disaster. sometimes you can get by and sometimes you cannot. great church road is blocked in two places. >> for this to have come just from what they called a thunderstorm is incredible. >> still hard to say this morning how many secondary roads are closed. at democracy at old georgetown police have put out traffic cones to close off a section of the intersection, perhaps a glimmer of hope there was a crew and the lights did come back on for about two minutes and then they shot back off. reporting live, john gonzalez. >> thanks so much. in the aftermath of the storm d.c. mayor vincent gray is asking president obama for a

disaster declaration. if granted it would allow the district to seek reimbursement from fema for storm related cost. thousands of residents still without power. others dealing with the damage caused by downed trees. the district remains under state of emergency. 5:07, 75 degrees right now. >> still ahead, more good news for drivers at least when it comes to gas prices. the prices are dropping as we

correct the smell of hamburgers early in the morning. good morning, it's 5:10. the last time our power went out in my neighborhood, everybody got their grills going and emptied their freezers and had a big block party. the power is slowly being restored. many traffic signals are still dicey. those areas that are still hard hit, they have some barrels out with stop signs in the middle of intersections or traffic cones that will not allow you to make any turns. you will have to stick with the major thoroughfares. little later as the rush hour starts to grow, the police will start to help at major intersections.

getting out of neighborhoods are the toughest opposition. 66 inside the beltway, but vdot has decided to relax hov. that is all. 95 395, the toll road, and 66 outside the beltway, hov is normal. your opportunity is just to get out of the neighborhood this morning and onto the interstate, like yesterday. we have a change in the weather. >> yes, and today there will be an increase in the humidity. you have a bit of a break locally and north of town in the humidity levels, but it's moving back into town throughout the day and tomorrow. there will be thick humidity tomorrow. 301 in charles county, there's a brief downpour moving towards la plata and. especially south of 237 and moving southeast is another downpour. 95 today for the high temperature with increasing

humidity. some energy will move our way tonight and tomorrow, giving us thundershowers possibly tonight but especially off and on through the day tomorrow. what is fourth of july in washington without the heat and humidity and a few pop up storms. that is what we will be facing on the fourth of july, 92 degrees. upper 90s on thursday and through the weekend. more on that coming up. >> prince george's county has set up locations where residents can get rid of storm related debris. >> residents can get rid of yard building, and household items at the brown station road landfill in upper marlboro. tree limbs can be dropped off at the prince george's county yard waste composting facility. it is early this morning for me. those locations will be open today thursday, and friday. d.c. residents who don't want to

wait for normal trash collection can get rid of their spoiled food. trucks will be at several schools to collect that in the afternoon from 3:00 until 7:00. the schools are on your screen. they include lasalle, mckinley tech key elementary, wilson high school, ferebee-hope, and garfield elementary, 3:00 until seven today. >> good news for millions of drivers taken to the road for july 4. gas prices 22 cents cheaper around the u.s. than this time last year. a national average is $3.33. in the district, $3.50. in maryland, $3.32. in virginia, off $3.14. 5:13, 7 d 5 degrees. >> coming up, a moment at wimbledon, inclineda excuse us, while

we change into something more comfortable. cool. introducing, the squaree sunnyd bottle.

>> you are watching abc 7's "good morning washington" with cynne simpson and steve chenevey. this is "good morning washington," on your side. >> the future of the silver line project to dulles airport will be decided today. loudoun county board of supervisors will vote on whether to commit $270 million toward the second phase of. the of the washington post reports there may be enough votes in order to support the plan. call for the silver line to end at route 7 hundred 72. it's not clear when construction will begin. -- route 772. >> harry thomas jr. is serving a sentence for embezzling money. he admits that he used some of the money to buy a chevy tahoe and of a motorcycle.

the government will now try to sell those vehicles and the proceeds will help pay off bills that thomas owed to a financial group. >> time for traffic and weather every 10 minutes. we will start with adam caskey. the humidity is rolling back in. >> it was a nice break yesterday. >> for a few hours. >> yes, relative to washington, it was dry heat. we will be in the thick of the humidity tomorrow, typical for the july weather. >> everybody will be down on the national mall. >> pop up thunderstorms most of the day tomorrow. that's what we always see on the fourth of july. that does not mean it will necessarily interfere with the fireworks. but a few fireworks displays could be delayed in the evening.

here's a look at live super doppler 7 this morning at 5:17. a little action in southern maryland about to cross over 301 south of la plata in charles county. most of the action is in st. mary's county, mostly south of 235 and running along the base of the potomac. and approaching point lookout shortly, all south of lexington park and moving off to the southeast. here's a live view of the satellite. and satellite. showers and thunderstorms in the upper midwest. some overnight action and even some severe action. that energy causing a complex of thunderstorms, will probably clip as late tonight and throughout the day tomorrow. that is why i think we will have proper and thunderstorms to ro throughout the day tomorrow. even tonight i cannot rule out a shower.

95 and hot and sticky today. a few storms possible tonight and tomorrow on independence day. keep an eye to the sky if you are outside and take the necessary precautions for the heat and humidity. upper 90s thursday through the weekend. now to lisa baden. >> everybody is getting a little punchy, including me. everybody's tired and working overtime. watch your p's and uq's. fairfax is not able to give us a list because they have their hands full. but they said 50 intersections remain without power. that is substantially lower than what we had yesterday. 50 intersections in fairfax county. montgomery county said that they would send us a list. i have about 57 in the district right now. i will get on the phone with prince george's county to see what i can find. mdot said that hov is lifted on

270. vdot changed their mind. the only thing that is relaxed is 66 inside the beltway. to get out of your own subdivision will be your biggest challenge today. we will see how the traffic pattern goes today. with the long weekend, we may have a get away early. we will find out what happens. >> glad to hear many of those intersections are back open. that's a big hurdle we are crossing. >> slowly but surely. high-tech systems used in new cars may not be as helpful as car makers claim. >> sunny hostin has details. >> questions about pricing automobile safety systems. new findings show high-tech alerts meant to keep drivers from drifting out of their own lanes could increase the risk of a crash by 10%. the insurance institute for highway safety did the study. google last week unveiled its

new nexus 7 tablet that competes with the amazon's kindle fighter. -- fire. >> it is a good medium for someone who does not want to spend $400 from ipad or someone who does not want something as minimal as an electronic reader. this is a $200 a tablet with a really nice multimedia experience. >> it is $200 retail, and texas. i am sunny hostin.

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>> that is in the air. he's not going to get it. it will go all the way. >> in a couple days, the all- star game. the orioles got roughed up by the mariners last night.

6-3 is a loss for the orioles. but they have lost 10 of their last 13 and now they have fallen six behind. >> here is tim brant with the rest of sports. betina and trials, dara torres age 45, try to make it appear team for the sixth time. she makes it to the wall. she will not be on team usa denied the trip to london. finishes in fourth place. her 6-year-old daughter was upset, but dartaa she will go to london anyway even if not on the olympic team. this surf hit the line woman at the tennis match.

it hits her in the eye. fish wins the match. the nationals are back in action against the giants this evening at the ballpark. there's a look at sports. >> thanks so much. 5:26 on this tuesday, 75 degrees. the news continues at 5:30. >> team coverage of the aftermath of friday's storms continues with a look and power outages across the region. we will talk with dominion about thei i should be arrested for crimes against potted plant-kind. [ clang ] my house is where plants came to die. ♪ ♪ but, it turns out all i was missing was miracle-gro potting mix. it's got what a plant needs. even plant food that feeds them for up to 6 6 months. you get bigger more beautiful plants. guaranteed. who's got two green thumbs thanks to miracle-gro? uh, this gal. boom! everyone grows with miracle-gro.

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>> live and in hd, this is "good morning washington," on your side. >> straight ahead the work continues to restore power to

hundreds of thousands of customers in our area still dealing with a fourth day of no power. some worry they will not have electricity again until the weekend. good morning, washington. it's tuesday, july 3. glad you are joining us. i am cynne simpson. >> i am steve chenevey. we'll start with traffic and weather like we do every 10 minutes. adam caskey has a check on the forecast. >> we still have a few downpours mainly in st. mary's county. scotus live super doppler 7 radar you can see the downpours mainly in piney point. and. diminishing thundershower in charles county. there's the moon in gaithersburg. temperatures in the '60s to 70's. 76 in arlington, 67 in huntingtown. upper 60's in the shenandoah valley. 95 again today, sunny.

increasing humidity. what is fourth of july in washington without heat, humidity, and a few scattered thundershowers. you'll have to dodge the rain and lightning briefly throughout the day. >> you will have make it out of your own subdivision. many primary arteries, the power is being restored slowly. it is only about 50 traffic signals that remained affected in fairfax. i am waiting for the list in montgomery county. several remain in the district, major intersections that still remain in the dark. prince george's county, more of the same. getting on to the major roads like yesterday, remains pretty decent. to help facilitate, maryland has relaxed hov on 270 and 66 inside the beltway. no hov for vdot, but everybody

else remains the same. 95 in virginia in this picture headlights are northbound. look at all of your neighbors going to work. in the district we have this camera at 14th street in front of the reagan building, looks quiet. back to you. >> thank you. 5:31. on this 31 power crews have been working around the clock since friday to restore electricity. >> many families are learning this is a complicated process which could stretch all the way into the weekend. a spokesperson for dominion is joining us on the phone. we understand crews from as far as canada have come to help with the restoration efforts. >> that's right. 200 people from canada arrived last evening. they were processed and will begin working on our system early this morning. we have crews that have come from 15 different states plus canada. totaling 5000 of our system.

2000 of those dedicated to northern virginia. >> the outages are still scattered. you are down to about 79,000 customers still without power. looking at the maps is it safe to say the majority are in fairfax county? >> they are. actually, i take that back. northern virginia is the most affected in arlington alexandria, falls church, mclean. those are the areas we have seen most impacted. >> what is your timetable? i know you have gotten a big chunk of people back on. >> we understand this is a very difficult time for people. our focus is getting the lights on. we achieved our goal of 80% to 85% by the end of today. 90% to 95% and is our goal by thursday night and virtually

everybody back on by saturday. we are on course to achieve those goals. in some northern virginia neighborhoods you are still seeing lines down and trees on the road. when can folks expect to see someone dealing with some of those issues that are still visible? >> we will be in the neighborhoods -- we started that yesterday and we will be deeper into the neighborhoods today. additional cruise -- people will begin to see more work going on in the neighborhoods. the work that goes on in the neighborhoods will be a lot more tedious, meticulous work. so it will take longer to get smaller numbers of customers back on. i was in a neighborhood yesterday, 12 broken polls. we will be there all day today and we started work yesterday and we will have over 200 customers back on at the end of it. >> , an extra crew will be on the street -- how many extra?

>> 5000. 2000 dedicated to northern virginia. >> good luck. coming up the 6:00 the president of pepco will be in our studio. we will update you on pepco's restoration efforts. >> we will hear his message to customers. many are outraged with the slow process. jummy olabanji is live in northwest washington and is joining us with more. people still struggling without power. >> good morning. that's right. frustrated is what a lot of people are telling us. this is one of the reasons. the been building behind me, a church with a school on it has power. but down the block where the majority of the homes are they don't have power. this has been the case since friday night when the storm occurred in northwest washington. a lot of trees came down on to

power lines, knocking out power to thousands of residents across the sea and in maryland. they have been without power since then. they have been complaining about the hot weather, if not being able to get their air- conditioning and food has been spoiling in the refrigerators. a lot of people telling us this is the most frustrating time they have had in several months. >> we are living with the devil. >> the service each year is getting a little worse. >> many of those people especially in d.c. do have pepco as their service provider. pepco has said several days that they are working very diligently around the clock to get power restored to everyone, but it could be the weekend before all those folks are restored. we will speak with pepco's president in the next half-hour. reporting live in north west washington, jummy olabanji, abc 7 news. >> even those with power this

morning still are dealing with the effects of the storm. many traffic lights are out because of the outages. that is making a shower more frustrating than usual. john gonzalez joins us from bethesda with details. >> good morning. we are at the intersection of old georgetown rd. and democracy boulevard. traffic signals are out at this intersection and four blocks in each direction. there are crews here, but this is what drivers are still forced to maneuver around. hundreds of traffic signals out. at last check this morning 250. some at major intersections are still in the dark. and plenty of neighborhood's streets remain impossible. thanks to the thousands of pounds of broken trees and tangled power lines some utility poles dangling above the cars on some of these roads, crews have been working tirelessly for the last several

days to try to cut the trees clean up, and repair the downed power lines and utility poles. slowly but surely, things are starting to get back to normal, but not quick enough for some drivers. police have been very busy doing their best to direct traffic and make sure drivers oh, baby is traffic laws. once you get off the major roads, the situation does not improve much. -- police are doing their best to direct traffic to make sure drivers obey traffic laws. at old georgetown rd. and democracy boulevard all morning we have seen pepco crews surveying the area, shining spotlights on some of the utility poles. about 10 minutes ago they set up shop at this utility pole. it looks like they have found a problem spot although i am no

expert. perhaps some sense of hope this morning, about an hour ago the lights did come on for about two minutes. you can see crews working over my shoulder. hopefully, they will have this traffic signal back up and running in a matter of minutes -- perhaps hours. john gonzalez reported from bethesda. >> that is a welcome sight. 5:38, 75 degrees right now. >> the fireworks show will go on as planned tomorrow at the national mall. forget about seeing displays in some parts of maryland.

thatridge in your kitchen may have crossed this bridge. your new car probably rode these rails. that shipment you just received was tracked b by satellite. we build and maintain. we invest and innovate. so we can deliver what america needs. this year alone, freight rail companies plan to spend twenty-three billion of their own money, not taxpayer dollars, to build bridges, maintain track, and develop new technologies to ep freight rail and our economy moving. there's a lot riding on these rails.

>> i am at the phillips collection. join us for great coffee and great art. >> good morning, washington. >> good morning, washington. hope you are up early this morning. hope you have the power back on. it's another hot day. temperatures already well into the '70s. >> let's check in with adam caskey for the latest. >> id: to be a high day, like yesterday, high temperatures in the mid 90's. -- it will be a hot day. we will be in the thick of the humidity and tomorrow.

there's dawn almost, sunrise in six minutes. a few showers in charles county and pushing through piney point and point lookout and st. mary's county getting some showers. a brief sprinkle in lexington park. seven is 7 right now in washington. 64 in cumberland. hagerstown 68. 95 this afternoon 20% chance of a late-day thundershower. not expecting much. much better chance tomorrow of pop up storms throughout a good chunk of the daylight hours. hot and sticky for the fourth of july. >> it turns out fireworks is not a coin to light up the sky tomorrow in some cities in maryland. exxon celebrations have been cancelled already due to the storm cleanup efforts. no fireworks in kensington, germantown rockville, or gaithersburg this year.

>> despite the strong cleanup, the fireworks show on the national mall is going on as planned. if you plan to attend the national park service is surging guests to take public transportation into the district. customers are urged to use station's other than smithsonian or federal triangle due to crowding. metro rail operates from 7:00 a.m. until midnight on the fourth of july. the transit system expects to carry more than a half million passengers. is 74 degrees. more alarming news about al qaeda. how the

>> coming up, hundreds of thousands of people still in the dark this morning. now lashing out at the power companies. we will talk with the president of pepco about the rest re restoration efforts. why some lettuce is being pulled from store shelves. >> singer russell watson has a

new album and will be a capital for a celebration on the national mall tomorrow. we will talk with him about his return. los stories and more coming up a 6:00. now at 5:47, following a developing story. al qaeda may be plotting an attack to coincide with the summer olympics in london. the group reportedly recruited a man to bring down an airplane. received terrorist training in yemen and is ready to attack. investigators are trying to track down the man. has no criminal record, which makes him an ideal recruit. mcdonald's is playing chicken with the menu. >> the cost of burger's this for the july may make americans favor them even more. here is linda bell. >> hungry for the fourth of july barbecue. blumberg says that consumers are

set to pay the most ever for hamburgers and stake this year. rising demand pushes beef prices to record highs. the cost of other barbecue staples include american cheese, ice cream, and potato chips has gained nearly 2% from a year ago. mcdonald's is turning its focus away from beef as well parrotit is looking to draw in budget- minded americans with more chicken items, which can be priced lower than other proteins. expect to see more snack items with chicken in the future. red lobster and olive garden are thinking small. the parent company has plans in mind to move into smaller markets that may not have worked out economically in the past. they create 170 jobs on average. an opening can threaten mom-and- pop businesses, say some critics. linda bell reporting for abc 7

news. have a great holiday. >> the same to you. >> when we visited good morning america a few days ago we went somewhere that few have gone before. it's a nice simpson went into robin roberts' dressing room -- cynne simpson went in. >> what is your vision for her look? >> sophisticated, stylish, modern sexy. you have to please everyone. we try our best to please everyone every morning. all the dresses are right here and the pants are here. some new shoes we just got. open toes. >> eve's allst. laurent and jimmy

choo. >> here are the blouses and skirts. she picks out what she wants to wear for the day for what i have laid out. and the jewelry right here. >> you are constantly doing the shopping but sometimes she will bring in something and say i am not in the mood for that one? >> like thi ones one, so we went for the michael kors collection. >> and the armbands. >> pic sent over these armbands since she made the announcement. tons of armbands. >> these came in all different patterns and colors. >> whatever we decide to wear that morning, we just match it up.

that's what we do a. >> you are still celebrating over those shoes. >> that was the best collection. he spends his day shopping for robin roberts, whatever he wants to buy. always looks amazing. >> she disappeared for about 45 minutes and then comes out of the wardrobe room. there's a reason she did that interview and not me. >> that was not part of our tour. i had to do some digging. i wanted to find my way into the wardrobe. he is my new best friend. it is amazing, that collection. >> today is going to be hot with increasing humidity. when we get a drop in the humidity, that last for about 18-36 hours. it's coming right back up this

time. typical fourth of july with heat and humidity tomorrow, pop up thunderstorms throughout the day. most of the action should be done by nightfall. we will have to wait and see throughout the day. there will be pop up storms and you may have to dodge the rain drops and lightning periodically throughout the day. as for now we have a nice sunrise taking shape over the district. 77 at reagan national. dulles airport is 71 degrees, 68 in hagerstown. 66 -- or 64 in cumberland, rather. we have some heavy rain still pushing through piney point and pushing towards point lookout, a little downpour. newbur, dissipating showers

approaching st. mary's county. clear skies otherwise across most of our region with the exception of the showers down to our south. there's the energy in the upper midwest, the great lakes region. this energy will drop to the southeast. that will probably clip us in washington late tonight and into tomorrow. that is why tomorrow we have the enhanced chance of thunderstorms. we will have instability and a good trading mechanism with the energy that will drop in. increasing humidity today, mid 90's, sonny slight chance of thunder showers tonight. tomorrow 92, very muggy with scattered thundershowers off and on mainly through the daylight hours. even into the evening there could be a couple storms lingering. barry hot and sticky thursday through the weekend, and 90s with bright sunshine. lisa baden. >> collision on the outer loop near st. barnabas road. northbound on the beltway from the wilson bridge toward andrews

air force base, before the exodus for st. barnabas road, two right lanes are closed. still many problems with power outages knocking out traffic signals. fairfax county down to 50 intersection in the dark. 240 in montgomery county. back to you. >> thank you. 5:54, time for traffic and weather after the break. >> a different tool in the fight against drunk driving. i cannot believe we are talking about this. a talking urinal

>> welcome back. the state of michigan hopes to make a big splash with its latest public service announcement. >> it involved a talking urinal deodorizer case in the men's bathroom. here it is. >> hi there, big guy. having a few drinks, then listen up. >> it is motion-activated. a recorded message plays to remind men to call a cab to get home safely. >> don't drive drunk. if you do and you get arrested, you will be in jail with a hairy

guy named to bubba asking you to pick up the soap and [beep.} >> my goodness. >> they have been paid for with a federal grant. >> be keptth